Posts Tagged ‘Matthew Sawyer’

I don’t have kids, but I’ve recently thought how to talk to them. As a childless adult, I’ve forgotten how. I think the best approach is just to be honest and frank… about religion, politics and death.

I’d start and say, “You’re probably going to die. I mean everyone dies. In your lifetime, doctors and scientists may find a way to prolong life, stumble upon immortality, yet, even then, what we know is that means more pain from wear, tear and disease. What kind of life would you have once everyone you’ve known, your family and friends, your pets and heroes, have all passed away? You will want to die, and that is a sad state of existence. It’s often easiest to just be done with it all. Death is a blessing in disguise. But who wants to die when they are young and they have so many wants… to do, to go, to see? Live life to it’s fullest.”

“And a full life is led without fear Sure, fear is good – you don’t want to get bit by a dog (or any animal or person), you don’t want to fall and break a bone. You don’t want a life of pain, but then again, how bad could it be? There’s only one way to find out, but fear will stifle curiosity – and the pleasure of curiosity is always the one thing that will keep your will alive. Don’t be afraid.”

Fear will led to anger and guilt and convince you to believe in things that are not true. And to believe and act upon things that are not true only brings pain to others and yourself. And by yourself, I mean guilt. Guilt for things you’ve done or not done will come with you throughout life, it gets heavy as you get old.

Guilt is the one pain you want to always avoid, because it often won’t just go away. Sure, you might forget about it for awhile, but it’s still there and only grows. It’s that weight you can’t throw off in old age, especially after everyone but you have died.

Live without fear and avoid guilt… I mean, don’t just ignore it, guilt that is, kill it with kindness – love for others and yourself. Love curiosity and satisfy your cravings. Share what joys you find with others. Share the joy of a fearless life without guilt with everyone you know, because, as I’ve said, we all die and there will come a day when you don’t want to be alone.

Citizens growl, “Make America great again.”
I stand firm and claim, “America is great.”
Answering those who shout, “What makes America great,”
I ask “What is America?”
“What had a Founding Father to say?”
“What is this great country we have today?”
“A Republic, if you can keep it,”
Benjamin Franklin stated then,
At the dawn of a nation
And ever near an end.

Radical feminism undermined Occupy Wall Street in 2011 when coincidentally feminist Gloria Steinem stated the movement about economic equality was really about gender. The movement Atheism Plus was asphyxiated in 2012 when dogmatic atheists like associate professor PZ Myers dictated cutting edge feminism must constitute the foundation. And there was Gamergate in 2014, when radical feminists such as the dubious Anita Sarkeesian trespassed into video game development: saying Feminists don’t like butts or cutting the digital heads off sprites. Now, in 2016, Black Lives Matter is endangered by the same self-serving element.

Feminism itself is a good thing, well, now a good thing after coming out of the late 1860s when the Women’s Suffrage movement stood in the way of Blacks being allowed to vote (women wanted to vote, too, and would not have black people gaining the right before them). Equal rights is essential for sake of egalitarianism – hence the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The Feminist movement itself is not evil, individual feminists are not bad, but its study is complicated. Novices gain what little knowledge is available to them in undergraduate courses and they, themselves, become dangerous. They sling words as if they were weapons.

As I have written about previously, and even wrote a poem about, the language now passed from barely educated protesters to the unsophisticated American masses is counter-productive, even hostile. I’ve heard statements like these come from the mouths of vernal radical feminists…

“All white people are racist”
“Only white people are racist”
“All men are sexist”
“All men rape”
“All cis-gender people (those happy with their sexual identity indicated by the genitals) suffer trans phobia (fear of people who have mangled the boy or girl parts to resemble the opposite sex)”

I believe each are misinterpretations that have arisen from Peggy McIntosh’s article, “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies,” 1988. In the article, the feminist and anti-racism activist defined “privilege.” She used subjectively observed models to illustrate how white men experience America, and she qualified herself by introducing “intersectionality,” otherwise her Venn diagrams were too easily redefined by substituting the word “race” with “class”, as in economic class.

Outside institutions of learning, Academia, out of the mouths of amateurs, phrases such as white-privilege and male-privilege even sexism, sound like accusations, blame for historic events beyond the control of anyone alive today. And I believe the street-level usage is intentional as in those are the stated meanings aggravated protesters intend to communicate. The hostile backlash is understandable. The surgically inflicted wounds are especially prevalent on white conservatives of all economic classes. These are people who vote in elections with hurt hearts, their now scarred feelings.

So I say with expectation, radical feminists will strangle Black Lives Matter. The movement will likely vanish as had Occupy Wall street. Radicals will be instrumental in the election of assumed Republican candidate Donald Trump in 2016. And a renewed Black Suffrage will be met with the same revolt as Senator Bernie Sander’s movement called Our Revolution. Because radicals will never think of the future nor take account of broader perspectives and shut their mouths.

Since Feminist and anti-racism activist Peggy McIntosh wrote an article in 1988, “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies,” the ideas of white-privilege, male-privilege, (all hosts of privileges) have flowed into Academia and none are yet adequately defined. Hey, it’s only been thirty years and roles are changing. Academia has kept them all together in a loose bundle called sociology, then it all got out of the hallowed halls and onto the street.

The layperson terminology of “privilege” has been tossed about for decades, causing sparks. But as I was trying to tell an angry, male self-identified radical feminist, it really didn’t start blazes until 2015. That is when Black Lives Matter gained media attention and young, well-off women were learning about a modern further-Left leaning Feminism in their college classes. This green understanding of new theoretical ideas was then bled over Conservative parents, employers and even the average passerby on sidewalks. Right-wing media found yet another abomination to set spikes against. They felt threatened by aggressive young actors who apparently didn’t know what they were talking about. And neither did nor do the victims.

Poorly-educated mouth pieces arose again on both sides of a growing political bush fire. Where foul mouthed and insensitive elitist graduates spouted dynamic misunderstandings about Feminism, the Right wing propaganda machine spun horror stories about the quality of education, money, and the wrath of the Lord himself.

Hence my disbelief in “privileges,” for now. Let’s call what we have “Rights,” as had our damnable patriarchy titled the Founding Fathers. Let professors better define just what privileges exist. I think they’ll maybe be sure by the time I am dead. Until then, let us treat everyone equally, like those “men” who signed the Constitution wanted. Egalitarianism does not mean misogyny.

Black, white, green apples and red licorice,
We all have rights.
Only wealth buys privilege.
Well, that and sex.
So if some guy or gal gets more than you,
He or she suffers less than you,
And he and she truly offers no more worth than yourself,
You are denied rights and not so poor to be restricted privilege.
Rights are not minted and cannot be locked in vaults.
Rights are all with which everyone is born.
And all that is worth to be taken away.

Like this:

I think everyone has heard this,
Everybody knows,
It’s okay to be stupid and afraid.
You have every blue-blooded human right.
But know what you fear.
Learn the reason why.
And you will stop being stupid
Then you won’t be afraid.

Someone has said, “Some men will be sexist because of last night’s news.”

So one assumes, “Oh, that news must be when Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination for president. That appears to be in the National conscious today. Well, I’m not happy about it but I hope my expressed view won’t be misconstrued.”

Then that friend sounds upset and demands to know, “When did I say I support Hillary Clinton. Why did you turn this into a political post? Stop putting words in my mouth.”

So one says, “I wasn’t talking about you. That news was about the presidential election, right?”

And that friend replies, “You’re making a strawman argument. As a matter of fact, I do support Hillary Clinton for president.”

“Good for you,” one says. “I’ll still vote for her but I won’t be happy.”